This invention relates to retail merchandise display devices, and in particular to such devices which are used for merchandising cigarettes which devices are easily expandable onsite and are modular in construction.
There are many devices available for displaying cigarette packs and cartons for retail sale, although all such previous devices had certain disadvantages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,647, invented by the inventor of the present application and assigned to the same assignee as is this application, shows a display rack having an internal "spider" support structure. The device there disclosed has several disadvantages. First, the spider support structure effectively prevents any expansion of the device such as by increasing the number of sides of the unit. Second, the plastic shelf units are disclosed to be onepiece units, effectively preventing the rearrangement of portions thereof to allow different displays of items, such as accessories and whole cartons, to be intermingled with the pack displays.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,862, again having the same inventor and assignee, wherein a display rack having theft-proof features is disclosed. This display device again is supported from within mainly by a center shaft, which limits the possibilities for expansion.
The present invention is directed toward improvements over the devices described above and solutions to the problems raised thereby.